us buckles and plates - American Society of Arms Collectors

U. S. BUCKLES AND PLATES
by Harry J. Repman
I have made a rather arbitrary decision to discuss
US plates and buckles from 1830-1860, but for
what I hope are logical reasons. The Ordnance
Manual of 1839 describes these pieces in rather
general terms but with Ordnance Manufal of
1841, and later, there is a precise description so that
we know exactly what we are dealing with.
This era saw the expansion of the regular army,
plus a War and a proliferation of various forms
of accouterments. This was the time of the
appearance of the Circular eagle and oval US
plates familiar to the Civil War collector, the
d i s a ~ ~ e a r a n of
c e the traditional white buff leather
and ; i e attachment of the bayonet to the belt with
the resultant absence of the crossed belts on the
chest of the soldier of the flint lock era. Finally, my
field of interest is the enlisted man of the regular
army. Equipment of officers and the militia is a
whole separate field, not covered here.
I don't have all the equipment, and there is a lot I
do not know, but this that we discuss today will
give us a base line to which \Isrecan add in the
future. There are several ways that this equipment
can be classified, and in an attempt at
simplification, I have chosen the headings that you
see here. The soldier of, say, 1850, would use
various combinations of this equipment.
NCO WAIST BELT M.1832-33 (Figure 1)
My first group consists of the NCO waist belt
plate for the short roman pattern NCO sword.
Campbell and Howell refer to these as Model 1833,
but others feel they appeared in 1832. The plate
consists of two round pieces joined by an S-hook
for buckling. The right hand piece has an eagle
with head to the left, wings drooping, three arrows
in the right talon and an olive branch in the left
talon. There is an extension of the left half of the
belt to form a flap behind the buckle. Note that the
connecting loops of the segmented belt are round
brass rings.
1. The left hand piece of the Artillery NCO
buckle had crossed cannon barrels between
the letters US.
2. The left hand piece of the Infantry NCO
buckle had three stacked muskets over a
small drum, between the letters US.
3. The third buckle, referred to as "Branch
Immaterial" had a raised US on the left
hand piece.
CLASP BUCKLE WITH RAISED U S (Figure 2)
Campbell and Howell state that in 1836 the
S-hook NCO belt was replaced with a round clasp
buckle in which the branch designation was
replaced by the raised letters US. Note that there is
no belt extension behind the buckle and the loops
holding the segmented belt together are square
instead of round. This is the common "foot
artillery sword" of the collector and is described as
the "sword belt for foot artillery" in the Ordnance
manual of 1841 through the Ordnance manual of
1861. As we will see later, the belt plate was
changed in 1861. These were issued to gun crews
and other non-mounted artillerymen-the "foot
artilleryH-but references in the Ordnance manuals
lead me to believe this outfit was also issued to
NCO's of other branches.
The belt for the Sabre for Mounted Artillery is a
white buff belt, no provision for an
over-the-shoulder strap, two sabre slings and the
same round clasp buckle with raised US as seen on
the foot artillery sword. This sabre is first
mentioned in the Ordnance manual of 1841, and
referred to by collectors as the "Light Artillery
Sabre". It was used through the Civil War.
A third use for this clasp type buckle with the
raised US is for a rare belt which I have never seen,
but we should know about it should the happy
accident occur. The Ordnance manual of 1850
speaks of sapper's accouterments. The sword belt
(buff leather) is two inches wide. There is a sliding
frog and "belt-plate, like that for the artillery." If
you see a plain white buff belt, no brass rings, no
sabre slings (and no holes where the stitching was),
and the clasp type buckle with raised US as on the
Foot Artillery Sword or the Light Artillery Sabre,
you have a real goodie.
CIRCULAR EAGLE PLATE
My next group is the circular eagle plate. The
soldier of the flint lock era wore white buff belts
over his shoulders which crossed on his chest, one
to hold his cartridge box and one to hold his
bayonet. The plate was always on the bayonet
scabbard shoulder belt, or "bayonet belt" as the
regulations described it, and prior to 1839 it was
Figure 1. The three NCO
waist belts M. 1832-33.
Figure 2. The "light artillery
sabre" belt and the "sword
belt for foot artillery."
oval or square, usually plain but some had a raised
US. The cartridge box belts, as in this model 1842
box, were without any provision for a plate.
Regulations of 1839 describe a bayonet belt plate,
round, brass, with eagle-the familiar circular
eagle plate of the Civil War (Figure 3). The
Ordnance manual of 1841 again describes it as a
plate for the bayonet belt but says "Note. The
bayonet belt is about to be discontinued; the
bayonet scabbard will be attached to a frog sliding
on the waist belt." With the discontinuance of the
shoulder bayonet belt, the circular eagle plate was
used on the cartridge box belt, where it stayed on
all boxes through the Civil War. The Ordnance
manual of 1841 also states "The frog of the
non-commissioned officer's shoulder belt is made
double, to receive the sword scabbard" (Figure 5).
Peterson says the NCO sword was adopted by the
War Department in 1840. The Ordnance manual of
1850 describes an NCO sword shoulder belt of
white buff leather, and the manual of 1861
describes one of black buff leather, each with the
circular eagle plate (Figure 5). The circular eagle
plates for the bayonet belt and the NCO sword
have 3 iron hooks; the circular eagle plates for the
cartridge box belt have 2 "eyes of iron."
THE LARGE OVAL U S
The large oval US on the flap of the cartridge
box is first described in the ordnance manual of
1841. The first ones I have seen are on the .69
caliber box which I associate with the M.1842
percussion musket. Whether they were meant to be
used on the box for the 1835-40 flint musket, I do
not know. It may be that the 1835-40 flint musket
Figure 3. The bayonet
shoulder belt. Top - a n
earlier plain oval plate.
Lower - The circular
eagle plate.
Figure 4. Cartridge boxes and
belts.
Left - MI842 box w ~ t h
plain belt
Middle - MI842 box wlth
circular eagle plate
M ~ d d l e- The 69 c a l ~ b e r
box
Right - MI855 riflemusket box
Figure 5. The NCO swords
and sword shoulder belt.
In the middle is the belt
with the double frog for
sword and bayonet.
Figure 6. The dragoon
sabre belt.
Figure 7. The white buff
rifleman's waist belt, ~ 1 8 5 0 ,
a n d black bridle leather
infantry belt of the Civil
War.
and the 1842 percussion musket used the same box,
but this is another subject for another day. I have
three boxes with the large oval US - the 1842
musket Cal. 69; the 1855 rifle-musket box Cal. 58,
and the special Ca1. .69 box made up in 1860-61 for
the conversions used in the Civil War. This .69 Cal.
box is described in the ordnance manual of 1861.
These cartridge box plates have the familiar
two eyes of iron.
The large oval US was also used as a buckle on
three belts.
1. The Dragoon Sabre belt, mentioned in
regulations of 1839 but first described in the
ordnance manual of 1850. White buff, with
2 sabre slings and a brass ring for an
over-the shoulder strap (Figure 6).
2. The rifleman's waist belt, as described in the
ordnance manual of 1850, a white buff belt
2 inches wide (Figure 7).
3. The black bridal leather belt of ordnance
manual 1861 - the belt of the Civil War
(Figure 7, lower).
THE SMALL US PLATE
The ordnance manual of 1841 describes a
Carbine-cartridge box and a pistol cartridge box,
each to have on the flap a "plate brass, oval, 2.8
inches long and 1.6 inches wide, lettered US". The
infantry waist belt was buff leather, 1.5 inches
wide, with a "plate, brass, the same as for carbine
cartridge box". The rifleman had the same waist
belt and plate. In 1850 the rifleman changed to the
wide belt and large US plate but the infantry used
the same narrow belt and small US plate.
Another use of the small oval US plate was on
Figure 8. Left - Rifleman's
box
Right - Pistol cartridge
box.
Below - Two examples of
the infantry belt with a
small oval US.
'
Figure 9. M. 1855 rifleman's
belt.
the rifleman's box; the best way to tell a rifleman's
box is the absence of buckles and the supporting
straps for the shoulder belt. The first rifleman's box
had narrow loops for the 1.5 inch belt. The
ordnance manual of 1850 describes a rifleman's
box with wider loops to receive the 2 inch waist
belt and a cartridge box plate "like the infantry
waist belt plate" - in other words, the small US
plate. There was a third rifleman's box with no
plate but again, this is another subject for another
day.
M. 1855 RIFLEMAN'S BELT (Figure 9)
In 1855 a rifle was adopted by the Army, .58 in
caliber and using Maynard's tape primer - U.S. rifle
model 1855. A special belt was designed, actually a
belt with frog for the sabre bayonet integral to it. It
is described in the ordnance manual of 1861 as "1
brass buckle No. 10"-which really tells us nothing.
The buckle is a rather plain, 2 piece clasp type and
when connected has the appearance of a rather
ordinary civilian type belt buckle. The manual
describes "2 loops, with eyes, (brass) to slide on the
belt."
RECTANGULAR SABRE - BELT PLATE
The final group of buckles is the familiar Sabre
Belt Plate of the Civil War Cavalry. Campbell and
Howell state that this was described in Army
Regulations of 1851 and was to be "gilt,
rectangular, two inches wide, with a raised bright
rim; a silver wreath of laurel encircling the 'Arms
Figure 10. Belt for light
cavalry sabre with
rectangular buckle. Left Black bridle leather of the
Civil War
Right - A n eorlier black
buff leather belt
Figure 1 1 . Variations in the
size a n d design of the
rectangular sabre helt
buckle.
Figure 12. MI861 sword belt
fo; foot artillery.
of the United States.' Ordnance Manual of 1861
describes a sabre belt of buff leather. While it does
not say dyed black, we know that the white buff
was discontinued in the 1850's. If you look closely
you will see that this early buckle is wider than the
Civil War buckle, the tongue on the reverse is
smaller and cast integral with the buckle rather
than being brased on, and the wreath of laurel
stops at the wings rather than extending above the
wing tips. During the War these sabre belts were
turned out by the thousands and made of black
bridle leather rather than buff (Figures 10 and 11).
My final specimen is what Ordnance Manual of
1861 calls "sword belt for Foot Artillery." It is buff
leather dyed black and has the belt plate "like that
for the cavalry sabre-belt"-the familiar eagle and
wreath of laurel. This, then, makes 3 types of what
we refer to as the "foot artillary sword" (Figure 12).
1. The S-type buckle with the three different
branches; actually NCO swords.
2. The common foot artillery sword with clasp
buckle and raised US and
3. The same sword but with the rectangular
eagle and wreath buckle.
Except for minor variations in the fullers and
different dates on the blade, the "Roman Pattern
Sword" was the same in all three groups and
throughout its entire usage in the US Army.
This discussion was meant to correlate the
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buckles and plates with the equipment on which
they were used, and is not a survey of plates and
buckles as such. The plate and buckle collector
will note many variations-a single wire hook,
double wire hooks, "puppy-feet" studs, arrow head
studs, and wire studs on the back of the plate. The
single stud on the large US buckle may be behind
the U or the S. These plates are being reproduced
in large numbers. A few generalities may be
helpful. The large US plates were not usually
symmetrical - more of a goose egg shape; the
reproductions are perfect ovals. The single buckle
stud is marked "replica" in some - if ground off this
stud will be much thinner than the double stud.
Connecticut Valley Mfr. buckles have brass wire
escutcheon pins cut off and bent for all three studs.
Brass wire hooks on the buckle or brass "eyes of
iron" on the cartridge box plates are always signs
of a replica. Some of the wire hooks and "eyes of
iron" are non-magnetic metal; the originals were
always iron and therefore magnetic. The best
thing, as Harold Peterson says in his new book, is
to look at as many originals as possible-develop
a "feel."
I am appreciative of the many members who
participated in the discussion and from whom I
learned much. Ralph Arnold very kindly brought
and discussed several items from his extensive
collection. These are illustrated and described
in figures 13 and 14.
-
-
A
Figure 13. U. S. Naval Officers' Belt Plates-An Addendum from the Ralph Arnold Collection.
- 1852 Regulation, numbered "160" on both parts plus "P" and "RBH" on outer part. Illustrated in 1852
Top
regulations, a n d in "Accoutrement Plates" by Gavin (Fig. 30) showing similar plate worn by Admiral
Farragut, now in the Smithsonion Institution.
Bottom - Circa 1855 through Civil War. Shown in "Plates and Buckles of the American Military 1795-1874" by
Kerksis (Fig. 71) where it is described a s the standard naval sword belt plate of the Civil War period.
87
Figure 14. U. S. Cavalry Carbine Slings-An addendum from the Ralph Arnold Collection.
Left - 1851-1861.Black buff leather, with buckle reverse, and also swivel, stamped "E. GAYLORD/
CHICOPEE/MASS," the maker, and "T.J. SHEPARD," the U.S. inspector.
Center - Civil War period. Bridle leather. The leather belt, buckle obverse, and swivel all stamped
"E.GAYLORDICHICOPEEIMASS, and "T.J. SHEPARD." Marked Gaylord sling buckles are rare and
are the only ones found bearing a maker's name.
Right - Civil War period. Bridle leather. Buckle unmarked but belt carries inspector's cartouche a n d maker's
important Civil War accoutrement
name "W. H. WILKINSON/MAKER/SPRINGFIELD/MASS/U.S."contractor. Swivel is stamped "GAYLORD" and "T.J. SHEPARD," like the other two swivels.